Parishioners are the main donors of gifts to the women’s centre, and they give items the centre asks for: toiletries, mittens, toques, games and toys for children.

At Mission Possible, an organization in the Downtown Eastside, clients have the opportunity to get what they want for Christmas by writing the type of gift they’d like to receive on the organization’s Christmas wish list.

“We do this thing every year for regular participants,” said Rod Janz,manager of communications and development at Mission Possible.

Janz said that getting the gift they want makes a big difference to how people feel about Christmas.

“We sometimes do up to 100 gifts a year at Christmas time,” he said.

Mission Possible serves those 18 and older, and asks for donations from the public that have a value of up to $20.

“People can supply a really specific thing that people need,” Janz said. “Often it’s gloves, or coat, or socks or sometimes really practical things like art supplies so they can make a picture.”

“It was awesome to watch people’s faces as they received the gift [they wanted], even though they already knew what it was,” Jenny Hawkinson, a volunteer at Mission Possible, said in an email.

“It meant so much to people to know that someone was shopping for them,” she said.